What keeps Rush, Levin, Prager, Hannity, etc -- or a combination of them -- from calling a debate for any candidates willing to show up? Then we could get some meaningful questions for inspecting the candidates' philosophies. They could not decline a Rush/Hannity/Levin cosponsored debate. The candidates have plenty of open days on their schedules.

If you talk to any of the conservative radio hosts or their people, please bring up the idea of a debate or a series of debates with them as sponsors.

Romney would have a hard time declining a joint invite from the big 2 or 3 voices in conservative talk radio. And if he chickens out, they could have the debate without Romney.

Also, whoever sponsors the event does not have to ask all the questions. For example, they could invite John Bolton to ask Foreign Affairs questions or invite Thomas Sowell and Art Laffer to ask economy questions.

Fox would almost certainly agree to offer air time, and if not, there is always C-SPAN.

Rush addressed this not long ago, and he gave a non-answer.
He said something like, “There are reasons why-—and things I just can’t say”, and he cut to a break. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s pretty close. It made no sense.

The volatility in the primary polls is there because voters do not know who the best conservative is. That is why Bachmann, Perry, Cain, Santorum and Newt have had their respective surges.

Currently, conservatives are trying to choose the best anti-Romney candidate between Newt and Santorum, so these are the two who should face off in a long, meaningful debate to show their positions on all the main subjects.

Exactly. You’ll always have one or two RINOs who won’t agree to it because their campaigns could never survive being asked real questions by real conservatives about real conservative issues. Romney would probably have to drop out of the race halfway through the debate!

A Savage interview would be entertaining, but candidates could decline it without losing face.

Candidates could not easily decline a debate cosponsored by market leaders Rush and Hannity, who are both appear to be fair questioners. If you combine Prager with one of the market leaders, given his pure reputation for fairness and honesty, the debate would be hard to decline.

Along the same lines, I've always wondered why wealthy conservatives don't band together to purchase controlling interests in major newspapers, TV networks, radio stations, magazines and the like. That would really result in a "fair and balanced" mass media.

One of the best political exchanges I’ve ever heard was when Ahhhnold was running for California governor. I can’t remember if it was before or after the GOP primary, but Sean Hannity had him on the radio and fired off a series of questions,. Most of them were yes or no, but they were direct and Arnold responded just as directly. Even if I didn’t like his position, it was refreshing to hear someone give a clean answer without spin.

I’d rather hear a one-on-one conversation, face to face with no table between, no obvious offense or defense.

Fox would almost certainly agree to offer air time, and if not, there is always C-SPAN.

The lack of TV networks controlled by conservatives is probably the biggest factor. And even Fox moderators try to be 'objective' and even show how tough they are.

Still, if they could have debates with conservative moderators, Fox and C-Span would be a start and even other online streaming since so many citizens now have internet access.

More should have agree to the Trump/Newsmax debate just to set the precedent. Nothing Trump might have done in November would have helped him much six or more months later if he did decide on a third party bid.

But many or most of the questions from the libs this year have been a waste of time and only designed to make all Republican candidates look bad.

Bingo! It could and should be. I think it would be compelling listening, but admittedly I’m a radio sort of guy and half the time just listen to TV audio anyway.

It’s something that I think could really catch on if someone were to do it right and then syndicate the process. Take the Huckabee forum, where each candidate was given 10 minutes or so without interruption - that’s something that the big stations like those who carry Rush, Sean, etc ought to be all over.

Many of them have lower cume ratings, which affects their ad rates, because the same people tune in day after day. This kind of political programming has the potential to draw in new unduplicated listeners, which would be great for the stations ratings.

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